Yamunotri trek and the life lessons reinforced

Velocity = Distance /Time. This is one of the first basic theory/ formula that one learns in physics and as one graduates, one acquires knowledge on acceleration / rate of displacement amongst other things.

The Yamunotri trek from Janki Chatti to Yamunotri was a first in life. The excitement of doing something for the first time and a never say die attitude propelled me through the steep climb. Beautiful surroundings with the river serpenting along the way provided with new exotic views at every bend. Snow clad Gahrwal Himalayas played peek a boo time and again. I completed this trek and came back with life lessons reinforced within me.

Early morning view as we reached Kharsali village

Kharsali Village Uttarakhand

When morning rays hit Kharsali village

Everyone has their own speed, not everyone will reach their destination at the same time – We were 10 of us who started together. Just as in life, in Yamunotri trek also we didn’t reach the destination at the same time. The more experienced group of Rangan, Amrita and Upendra Swamy reached the destination earlier. Does that make them a winner? In my opinion No. Extrapolate this to your school and college mates. Just as the speed of your team members weren’t the same, in many fields of life you will come across co passengers in the journey who will be with you for sometime and then move ahead. Wouldn’t you like to continue with them till the end? Its not possible. There are two ways to deal with this situation – either you sulk and look at yourself in poor self esteem light or enjoy the journey at your own pace. I focused on taking pictures and enjoying the vistas which was also an important part of the journey. Yes, I did sacrifice the company of my blogger friends but I didnt regret it. Once I reached my destination, I didn’t think twice about the people who reached before me because in the end what matters is that I completed the trek. Whether a goal or a journey, irrespective of our paces what is more important is that we reach our destination.

On our way – the parking lot

As we started the journey

Friends on our way

The path of the journey may not be of your choice – Yamunotri trek, I am being told is one of the most beautiful trek as every turn and corner has a new beauty of nature unfolding. It was a known fact that the entire stretch of the trek wouldn’t be smooth. Little did we know that there would be more surprises, good and bad along the way. You have ponies with/without rides all along the journey and they literally rub shoulders with you. There are palkis where 4 people carry a person on their shoulder. There are dolis also where a single person carries one person on their shoulder. More than often, a situation arises when all these 3 types along with other pilgrims are breathing down your neck and from the opposite side, another lot of ponies are on their way back. You can feel like a cheese between the layers of ponies. It’s the belief in continuing the journey which will make you move here as it happened with me.

The path of trekking

On the way to destination or back ?

Stopping or taking a break is normal – There are times when all of us go through this phase, we want to take a break, pause and introspect and come back. In this age of instant connectivity, we also fear that if we don’t write a blogpost for 10 days, upload a picture in Instagram everyday, tweet and much more, we may lose out. What’s the goal of the journey? To keep moving and to slowly reach the destination. When I look back now, this Yamunotri trek has taught me that pausing and halting is also a part of the journey. Pause, regroup, soak in the atmosphere around and more importantly, get re energized so that you can enjoy the journey. At times these moments of introspection only help further.

Looking at this it looks impossible to reach the temple

Don’t let anyone else define where is your destination – Towards the end of this Yamunotri trek, when the body energy tank was almost emptied, many a times I asked fellow travellers as well as people coming down from Yamunotri mandir – how far is it? No two answers that I got was similar. 30 mins for another person can be 90 minutes for another. Each time someone said me it’s 30 minutes more, I had seen atleast 7 more hairpin bends ahead. After a point of time I stopped asking and focused on my own journey.

the view which accompanied us

A palki where one is returning and the other is going

People will go ahead of you and chances are you will meet them later also – This is an interesting case which happened with me earlier in life as well as in this trek. Many friends, colleagues and acquaintances had gone ahead (well ahead is a relative term and perhaps doesn’t hold any meaning now) in terms of achieving milestones in their careers. At a younger age I had felt sad, to an extent jealous (high adrenaline = high competitiveness). However, I have met the same faces at later stages of life, where eventually they may not have achieved what was assumed out of them. A gentleman pushed me roughly while on his way up when there was no space to go up. I was irritated but let him go. After an hour of journey at my own speed, fulfilling my own interests of taking pictures, I saw him lagging behind. If someone is in a hurry, let go – enjoy the journey.

The pujari at one of the temples on our way

The makeshift stables

It’s the belief which keeps one moving- While we were on our way to Yamounotri Mandir, at the beginning I saw lot of old people and toddlers who were ready to undertake this journey. I came across these profiles while on my way too. I wondered how they would complete the yamunotri trek. I was happily proved wrong. Later it kept me wondering what kept them moving? Energy? Excitement? Belief? I guess belief. Belief on self, belief on supreme power and the conversations that they had with themselves. Often in our lives we face situations when we get perturbed by the unknown or undermine ourselves but it’s the belief which makes us reach our destination.

Yamuna temple

Yamuna at the base of Yamunotri temple

Facts which may come in handy for you while you do the Yamunotri trek

There are enough places to take rest, one at almost every 500 metres with drinking water facility as well as selling foods and other eatables

Sunscren and sunglass is must.

Carry a good sun protecting cap also.

It’s suggested that you don’t carry heavy woolens (depending on the time when you are going) as this trek would involve burning a lot of calories

Getting a walking stick for the trek is advisable as it helps while going up as well as coming down. One can buy one at Rs 20 each

There is a GMVN guest house at Barkot as well as at Syanachatti where one can plan to stay overnight in addition to numerous Dharamshalas and tourist lodges

There is a GMVN guest house at Janki Chatti also from where the trek starts. All can be booked online

Comfortable clothing is a must and keep a rain jacket handy

Do not carry heavy camera gears as you would not get chance to change lens. Two lens at the max and a camera bag which preferably should be water proof.

There are about 2000 ponies which operate here with charges around 1200 INR one way and around 700 palkis which charge 4000 INR .

In case you have been looking for details on Yamunotri Mandir and other details about it, you have to wait as I have been carrying these lessons with me some time and at the first instance shared them with all of you, I myself want to relook at these from time and again when I lose my way in life. Do you think these points make a sense ?